YAKIMA – If, as it has long been quipped, a tie is akin to kissing your sister, then the ho-hum reaction from East Valley coach Craig Hyatt and Selah skipper Mike Archer to Saturday afternoon’s CWAC split decision was understandable.

But given that neither team was swept, both teams know what they have to improve on, and neither has hit an unexpected pothole, see Quincy surprising third-ranked Othello on Tuesday and Grandview upsetting Ellensburg on Saturday, then taking one off another conference hopeful isn’t so bad.

The Vikings jumped on Red Devils ace Brandon Stone in the opener, and held on for an 8-4 victory in Saturday's opener at Loftus Field.

East Valley responded with a 3-2 win in the second game, which ended with the would-be tying run being thrown out at the plate.

Selah started quickly in the opener by being patient, waiting out the Washington State-bound Stone, who struggled with the strike zone – three walks – and his control – three wild pitches.

RBI singles by Braxton Young, Emilio Mendoza and Drew Brewer helped the Vikings to a 5-0 lead, although it could’ve been worse. Two Selah runners were thrown out at home, the latter ending the rally and bringing Archer out to question the call.

“I thought we did a good up there at the plate, and we hit pretty good in the first game,” Archer said. “We need to hit, we haven’t hit all year. Hopefully things pick up, we’re inexperienced so it’s going to take some time.”

Stone settled down, tossing a scoreless second and third before exiting.

“I think it's a tribute to him that he's done so well for so many starts,” Hyatt said. “Maybe he’s putting a little too much on his shoulders, and he doesn’t need to.”

The Vikings themselves weren’t terribly on target, either, forcing Archer, and his younger brother, Selah pitching coach Rob Archer, to make a visit to the mound.

When Rob Archer made his trip, he exchanged words with the home plate umpire, who – whether through confusion or misspeaking – called him “Mike” while ejecting him.

With their pitching coach tossed, the Vikings pitchers battled, getting out of bases-loaded jams in the first, second and fourth innings, and limiting the East Valley to no more than one run in any other rally.

Selah tacked on three runs in the top of the seventh, Dylan Kingston’s two-run single the big blow.

East Valley mounted one more rally in the bottom half of the inning. Grady Jansen doubled home Jaxon Berg, who led off with a single, and the Red Devils had the bases loaded with no outs.

Young, though, struck out the next three batters looking to squelch the threat.

Stone’s lead-off single got East Valley going in the second game. He would eventually score on a wild pitch.

The Red Devils would add a run in the second and third innings, with Stone hitting a one-run single, and Andrew McDaniel scoring on a passed ball.

Left-hander Skyler Lingle and Jaxon Beyerlein kept the Vikings at bay, giving up a single run on Lucas Williams’ sacrifice fly in the third.

“If you have lefty in high school, you always have a shot,” Hyatt said. “If you have a lefty who throws a couple pitches for strikes, you’re always in the ball game.”

Selah had runners on second and third in the top of the seventh, with Jack Kennedy and Braxton Young singling and advancing on an error.

Williams then followed with another single to score Kennedy, but Joey Bivins’ throw home to Clayton Udell was in time to get Young.

“We had some tough calls today,” Archer said.

A source said Young was thrown out for arguing the call, which would result in having to sit out Tuesday against Othello, and the first game of next Saturday’s doubleheader at Quincy.

The Vikings improved to 7-3 in the CWAC and 9-3 with the victory in the second game.

East Valley (9-3 CWAC, 12-4 overall) heads to Ellensburg on Tuesday before hosting Grandview.

“Baseball is a funny game, and if you slack off a little bit this game can hold you accountable to that,” Hyatt said. “They’re all big games, but we can’t make it any bigger than it already is, and the other teams that we play in our league you can’t make it any less than it is.”